PARENTS

CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES

Plato, Philebus 12b (trans. Fowler) (Greek philosopher C4th B.C.) :
"Sokrates (Socrates) : Let us begin with the very goddess who Philebos says is spoken of as Aphrodite but is most truly named Hedone (Pleasure) . . . And now I call Aphrodite by that name which is agreeable to her; but pleasure I know has various aspects."

Cicero, De Natura Deorum 2. 23 (trans. Rackham) (Roman rhetorician C1st B.C.) :
"In other cases some exceptionally potent force is designated by a title of divinity, for example [the daimones of virtuous behaviour] . . . In the same class the names Cupidos (Sexual Desire) [Eros], Voluptas (Pleasure) [Hedone] and Venus Lubentina [Aphrodite] have been deified--things vicious and unnatural (although Velleius thinks otherwise), yet the urge of these vices often overpowers natural instinct . . . the names that I just now enumerated express the various powers of the gods that bear them."

Apuleius, The Golden Ass 6. 24 ff (trans. Walsh) (Roman novel C2nd A.D.) :
"Psyche (Soul) was wed to Cupidos (Love) [Eros], and at full term a daughter was born to them. We call her Voluptas (Pleasure) [Hedone]."